Players will be seeing much needed changes to six cards in an upcoming Hearthstone patch set to take place after the Hearthstone Championship Tour (HCT) playoffs come to an end.

Upcoming Hearthstone patch will have players scrambling to get creative

Hearthstone’s latest expansion, The Witchwood, released April 12th and brought drastic changes to the meta. While the expansion introduced new cards and the new game mechanic, Echo, The Year of the Mammoth ended and with it saw the rotation of Whispers of the Old Gods, One Night in Karazhan, and Mean Streets of Gadgetzan out of the Standard format of the game. These changes paved the way for the Warlock and Paladin classes to take reign at the top of the ranked ladder. With the upcoming Hearthstone patch, various cards will be receiving soft nerfs to bring classes closer to a balance.

Dark Pact

FINALLY! Some Warlock nerfs! Dark Pact’s healing will drop to 4 after the nerf. Dark Pact was a staple in Guldan/Cubelock decks, providing synergy with any deathrattle card the deck runs (Possessed Lackey, Carnivorous Cube, and Spiritsinger Umbra) while providing a safety net to taking damage early on when using Life Tap, Kobold Librarian, or Hellfire. The 8 health restore prevented aggressive decks from winning early on, effectively dragging matches into late game where warlocks shine with cards such as Void Lord or the hero card, Guldan.

Possessed Lackey

Another Warlock nerf! Possessed Lackey is a strong tool for pulling a demon, usually Doomguards or Void Lords, onto the field while thinning out your deck so you can make sure you draw Guldan to ensure late game domination. Raising its cost to 6 mana will delay combos that will set up warlocks nicely for the win.

Spiteful Summoner

Spiteful Summoner has been raining terror in Big Spell Priest and Ultimate Infestation Druid decks. It virtually allowed them to get a 4/4 plus an 8-10 cost mana card for the cost of 6. Bringing its cost up to 7 will give opponents breathing room and preparation for one turn to properly counteract Spiteful Summoner.

Call to Arms

Call to Arms has been the quintessential paladin card for quite some time, bringing out cards such as Dirty Rat and Knife Juggler which help clear the match of any annoying minions the opponent might have. The crazy thing about upping its mana cost to 5 is that it removes this card from Even Paladins arsenal, possibly bringing down their already high win percentage.

The Caverns Below

Quest Rogue performed extremely well against slow-paced and control decks. Nerfing Crystal Core to make your minions 4/4 instead allows a chance for those types of decks to win and have less one-sided matches.

Naga Sea Witch

Naga Sea Witch will now cost 8 mana instead of 5 mana. In Update 9.1 Hearthstone developers changed a rule when Naga Sea Witch’s effect gets applied. This in turn brought Naga Sea Witch + Giants decks into play. Basically, Naga Sea Witch’s effect applies on the Giants before their cost reduction effects came into play, effectively reducing their costs close to 0. Best case scenario, turn 4, a player can coin to get 5 mana, play Naga Sea Witch and flood the board with multiple 8/8s. By raising the mana cost to 8, this grants other decks time to come up with answers when the giants get played on board.

Personally, I am excited for the upcoming Hearthstone patch to hit the live servers! Ever since The Witchwood expansion, classes such as Mage and Hunter have seen less play. Balance changes, such as these, are necessary to keep a game refreshing and enjoyable. What are your thoughts? Are you guys content or disappointed with these changes? Let us know in the comments below!